HoopsVibe is on location at Sayers Club in Hollywood, CA to cover the Chris Paul GQ release party sponsored by Hennessy. The stars walked the red carpet as we caught up with some of the NBA's most popular players just as they are set to return to camp for the 2012-2013 season.

The event was put together by Hennessy and GQ Magazine to celebrate Chris Paul's first ever GQ cover. Watch Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan dish on which Clipper have the worst fashion sense as Matt Barnes and Chris Paul talk about trying to find clothes they're wives dig. Even T.O. chats with HoopsVibe about how Sports influence fashion and fashion influences Sports.

It's a classy night for a classy man, as CP3 leads the Clippers to the promise land of style. Hennessy handles the party with R&B-Pop sensation "Miguel" killing it on the mic. See how this amazing night all got started as HoopsVibe chats with NBA All-Stars and Hollywood celebs on the red carpet.

The owner’s son, Jim Buss, is your boss despite having no experience as a basketball executive. The superstar, Kobe Bryant, is a raging Alpha Male who can’t accept that the team is better with Andrew Bynum as the top option. Speaking of Bynum, his lack of maturity is obvious.

And we haven’t even mentioned Metta World Peace, Matt Barnes, coach Mike Brown‘s offense, the press, or the rapid fan base that demand a championship every year.

Still, the Lakers quirks are nothing when compared to the mayhem of the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Blazers lost two of their top three players, Greg Oden and Brandon Roy, to injury. Long-time coach Nate McMillan was recently fired. The club is starting over.

Sadly, the on-court mess wouldn’t be the biggest challenge. That would be eccentric owner Paul Allen.

Remember, Allen fired executive Kevin Pritchard moments before the draft and casually told his former executive to stick around for the team's pick. The club spent months searching for Pritchard’s replacement. They supposedly had their man in Richie Cho, but fired him a year later for being too quiet.

There's a reason the Blazers haven't hired a replacement: no decent executive will take the gig. They don't want the mess, melodrama, and headache.

So Mitch, stick with the Lakers. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't.

If this is something that Bryant does take to heart, the Lakers, now that they have a major upgrade at point guard — Sessions for Derek Fisher — appear fully capable of coming out of the Western Conference. And while Bryant's stint on the bench has allowed his teammates to build their own confidence, it has also allowed his legs to rest. "This is a blessing in disguise for him to rest, heal up," World Peace said.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won four straight games with Black Mamba on the sideline in an expensive, dark suit.

To be fair: the purple-and-gold are 4-1 without Bryant, their franchise face, All-Star, perennial MVP candidate, and long-time Alpha Dog.

With Bryant sporting an injured shin, the Lakers have found their groove. Andrew Bynum has become an even greater beast. Pau Gasol is loving the extra touches. Metta World Peace is playing like a young Ron Artest -minus the outbursts. Even Matt Barnes has found his old form.

Bottom line: the Lakers have chemistry.

Whenever Bryant returns, he must fit with teammates and not disrupt the good vibes that have circulated Staples Center during his absence.

If that means deferring, so be it. If that means looking inside more to Bynum, so be it. If that means contributing in ways besides scoring, so be it.

Then, in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, Bryant can become the end-of-game assassin we know.
--Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.

“It’s a preseason game,’ Barnes said after Thursday’s practice at the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo. ‘Yeah, they’re catching lobs and dunking. But it’s just a preseason game. Let’s just play basketball. If you make a dunk, act like you’ve done it before. He’s got hundreds of them. There’s no need for the hoorah after every single dunk. It’s unnecessary.’

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Los Angeles’ two NBA teams, the Clippers and Lakers, don’t care for each other. Not one bit.

After all, Los Angeles was always a Laker town. They had The Logo, Wilt the Stilt, Kareem, Magic, Big Game James, Shaq-Fu, Kobe Bean, Andrew Bynum, and others.

While the Clippers could never attract or keep top talent because owner Donald Sterling wouldn’t open his wallet or spend the luxury tax payments he received from league head office.

This age-old dynamic is changing. The (natural) order of Los Angeles’ basketball teams could flip flop in 2012.

The Lakers, who are still talented, are in transition, while the Clippers have Chris Paul at point guard; Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan down low; and veterans like Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler, and Mo Williams.

Here’s the biggest shock: the Clippers are the glamour team. Griffin and Jordan’s aerial antics will receive endless love on ESPN, youtube, and twitter.

And some, like the Lakers' Matt Barnes, don't appreciate the post dunks celebrations.

“According to a brief report from KGO-TV, during a Pro-Am game between Barnes’ Dream Team and East Bay at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, Barnes punched a member of the East Bay team. But since an official didn’t catch the altercation, play continued after a break and Barnes was not ejected. As of Friday morning, it appears no one has posted a video of the punch, but one fan at the game did capture the incident’s aftermath and members of both teams retreating to their own benches.”

Mickael Pietrus: "A lot of teams are interested in me, like the Lakers or the Celtics. This came from the best player in the world: Kobe Bryant. He told me two months ago that he would like to see me with the Lakers."

"I call Barnes the Charminator," said Terry. "You know what that is? That is a guy that's soft as Charmin' toilet paper. It's not only that he's a Pac-10 guy and he's a [UCLA] Bruin, and so you know we hate those guys -- us [Arizona] Wildcats, we hate Bruins. I don't care who you are. Whenever you don that uniform, I can't stand you, other than Reggie Miller. Barnes, I remember you when you were at Golden State, you're a journeyman. You put on that Laker uniform and you turn into Jerry West, Kareem, and Worthy, and Magic. Those are the real Lakers, not Barnes."

Barnes smiled when he was relayed Terry's comments after practice on Saturday afternoon. "I'm not worried about what he's talking about," Barnes said. "In Golden State we showed how to beat Dallas. You take it right to their chin and they back down. I don't see that nothing's changed since then so hopefully we see them again."

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers were setting the tone for a possible playoff showdown.

Team Cuban currently sits at third in the Western Conference, while the purple-and-gold are second, trailing the league-leading San Antonio Spurs.

One game separated these two teams in the standings. They still could have swapped places; home-court advantage in the playoffs was at stake.

Not surprisingly, there was extra juice to Thursday’s game between the Mavericks and Lakers. Not surprisingly, tempers flared.

Initially, Jason Terry and Steve Blake got into it due to a late shove from The Jet. Matt Barnes, previously known as The Mohawk, defended Blake and got tangled with Mavericks assistant coach Terry Stotts.

Stotts was restraining Barnes, but the tattooed swing ‘accidentally’ threw the peacemaker to the floor, which angered Mavericks Brian Cardinal and Tyson Chandler.

On the other hand, Kobe Bryant looked incredibly irritated as he walked off the court, head down, all alone after the latest loss. He then ignored reporters for a second consecutive game, his second mini-boycott of the media this season. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson actually spent a full 2 1/2 minutes with reporters in the wake of Wednesday's debacle after providing five terse seconds of his time in Charlotte.

"I think they took the [All-Star] break before the game," he said, declining to name names though it wouldn't spoil anything to provide some clues (RonArtestLamarOdomAndrewBynum).

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Last time they played, they won by 55. This time, they lost.

Yesterday, the two-time defending world champion Los Angeles Lakers were beaten by the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers, who recently came within a whisper of setting the NBA record for most consecutive defeats.

Yes, the purple-and-gold has fallen. Yes, superstar Kobe Bryant is miffed. And yes, the world’s best player wants changes.

There’s no other way to interpret Bryant boycotting the media after the loss. Like Coach Phil Jackson, he believes his supporting cast isn’t pulling their weight and are in vacation mode.

Ron Artest’s play has to be particularly worrying for the Lakers’ brass. Last year, the three-man played with desire, despite struggling with Phil Jackson’s triple-post sets.

This year … well, the Lakers are still waiting for Artest to arrive. He’s averaging a career low 8 points per game and hasn’t played with his trademark defensive intensity.

Artest’s poor play has been compounded by Matt Barnes’ injury. Without Barnes' energy, the bench has been up and down, while the steady Derek Fisher continues to show his age.

Expect the Lakers to be buyers at the trade deadline. They have no choice -if they want to compete for a third straight championship.
--Oly Sandor.
Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.

Coupled with the stiff resistance that the Thunder offered the Lakers last spring, the coming of age of both of these players bodes well for the immediate and long-range success of the Oklahoma City Thunder ... That leaves Dallas and Oklahoma City as the Lakers' only viable competition.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: No doubt about it, the Oklahoma City Thunder is on the rise.

The upstart franchise pushed the world champion Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 Western Conference Quarter-Finals. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City’s best players, have represented USA well at the FIBA World Championships.

So the student, the Thunder, is learning. However, they aren’t ready to challenge the master in 2011, the Lakers. After all, the purple and gold has improved, too.

For instance, Andrew Bynum, Kobe Bryant, and Pau Gasol have spent this summer getting healthy; a leaner, meaner Ron Artest will have another year in the triple-post; and Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, and Theo Ratliff will bring consistency to the second-unit.

The Lakers are primed for a three-peat. In 2011, the Thunder won’t be ready to stop them.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent forward Matt Barnes, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak. Per team policy terms of the contract were not released.

Barnes, a seven-year NBA veteran, appeared in 81 games (58 starts) last season with Orlando, averaging 8.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25.9 minutes while posting five double-doubles and leading the Magic in scoring six times, in rebounds on four occasions and in assists twice.

Two years ago, Ron Artest - then the star of the Houston Rockets – sparred with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a classic Western Conference Semi-Final.

The Lakers prevailed in the series; however, Artest was the real winner, catching the eye of his foe and becoming a friend the following off-season when he inked a free agent pact with the purple-and-gold.

This year, Ron-Ron played a major role in the Lakers capturing their second consecutive NBA Title, and became a star with shout-outs to Queensbridge and his psychiatrist.

Flashback to the 2010 regular season, and Matt Barnes was a thorn in the Lakers` side. He battled. He defended. He talked smacked -declaring viral jihad against Lamar Odom, telling the forward on twitter he was going to put his child’s diaper in his mouth.

Naturally, Barnes signed with the Lakers this summer. Frankly, he’s perfect. The tough guy defends, hits the three, and, because he took a reduced salary, will keep the Lakers motivated in their quest for a third consecutive championship.

So Barnes got what he wanted. The defending champions got better. Sounds like the start of a beautiful friendship, which could end with a championship in June of 2011.

Matt Barnes announced on Monday night that he is going to sign with the Raptors. However, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports that Orlando's limited sign-and-trade options may scuttle the deal, according to sources.